the Museum of the University of Berlin, the richest that exist, consists of no fewer than 28,000 species; and when we consider how many others must be contained in the cabinets of England, Holland, Germany, and other places, not to be found in these, we are justified in affirming that upwards of 40,000 distinct species of Coleoptera actually exist in collections. It is more difficult to form a satisfactory estimate of their total amount in nature. The following is the most recent attempt of this kind we have seen; and, in connection with the adjoining table, will shew, at one view, the supposed relative extent of the different orders, both as actually known, and as they exist in all the countries of the globe:—
| Supposed to exist in Collections. |
Supposed to exist in Nature. | ||
| Coleoptera, | 40,000 | 120,000 | |
| Diptera, | 10,000 | 100,000 | |
| Hymenoptera, | 12,000 | 72,000 | |
| Hemiptera, | 5,000 | 25,000 | |
| Lepidoptera, | 10,000 | 20,000 | |
| Parasita, | 500 | 10,000 | |
| Neuroptera, | 1,500 | 9,000 | |
| Orthoptera, | 1,600 | 6,000 | |
| 80,000 | 362,000 |
The following table indicates, but in a manner which can only be regarded as an approximation to the reality, the ratio in which the Coleoptera increase in receding from the poles and approaching the equator, in obedience to that most general of all laws regulating the distribution of animals on the earth's
